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Belly Up
'Belly Up' 'Official Summaries' Publishing Summary: Twelve-year-old Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt Fitzroy has murder on his hands and trouble on his tail. He believes that Henry, the hippopotamus at the brand-new FunJungle, has been murdered. The zoo’s top brass claim the hippo went belly up the natural way, but Teddy and his feisty friend Summer McCraken have other ideas. Could the culprit be FunJungle’s animal-hating head of operations? Or is it FunJungle’s owner—Summer’s dad—a man who is much more concerned about money than animal welfare? The deeper Teddy and Summer dig, the more danger they’re in—because when it comes to hippo homicide, the truth can’t be caged! Summary from the back of the Book: Teddy Fitzroy has a murder on his hands and trouble on his tail. Henry the Hippo, the beloved mascot of FunJungle, America's newest theme park, has gone belly-up. The park claims he died of natural causes, but Teddy suspects foul play. When the police refuse to take him seriously, Teddy sets out to find the truth - and gets far more than he bargained for. It turns out Henry was two tons of trouble - and a lot of people wanted him dead. Was it Martin del Gato, FunJungle's head of operations, who hates kids and hates animals even more? Or Pete Thwacker, the exasperated head of PR, who's cleaned up Henry's messes one time too many? The list goes on and on... and soon Teddy finds himself in jeopardy too. He'd better find the killer behind the hippo homicide fast... or Henry won't be the only one who's dead. Main Characters * Teddy Fitzroy is a twelve-year-old boy who lives at FunJungle, where both of his parents work. After spending the first ten years of his life in the African Congo, he has a love for animals, and although he didn't particularly like Henry he wants to find out who killed him and why. * Summer McCracken is the daughter of FunJungle's founder, J.J. McCracken. She is burdened with her father's fame and fortune - her father has assigned her two bodyguards that go with her everywhere she goes and it has prevented her from making any real friends. However, she has developed a talent for sneaking away from her bodyguards, and it proves useful when Teddy needs her help solving the mystery of Henry's murder. * Martin del Gato is the director of operations at FunJungle and is shown to have a hatred for children and animals. He has a special dislike for Teddy, as he often causes mischief around the park (just like Large Marge). He is one of the main suspects of Henry's murder. * Pete Thwacker is the head of public relations at FunJungle. He is in charge of telling the public about the goings-on at FunJungle and confirming or denying rumors about it. He often needs to come up with cover stories in order to protect FunJungle's reputation, especially from angry anti-zoo groups. When Henry first dies, Thwacker tells the public it was from natural causes; however, it is later revealed that he was murdered, after careful research by Teddy and Summer. He is one of the main suspects of Henry's murder, as Henry had a bad reputation among zoos and extremely disliked most people, resulting in a lot of work on Thwacker's part to cover everything up. * J.J. McCracken is a billionaire and famous businessman. He is also the creator of FunJungle and Summer's father. He is shown to be very protective of his daughter. He is also shown to be slightly selfish and at times naïve. Making a profit is very important to him, and he will do anything to achieve his goals - for example, when he plans to build thrill rides through the animal exhibits with complete disregard for the animals' well-being. * Buck Grassley is the head of security at FunJungle. He is a childhood friend of J.J. McCracken and seems to be the stereotype cowboy, from his name to his outfit to his attitude. He is one of the first people on the scene whenever big things happen at FunJungle, like when the black mamba is set loose in World of Reptiles.